Dr. Yonas Tegegn Woldemariam, the WHO Representative in Uganda is convinced that Uganda will meet the target of ten million children within three days based on its past polio vaccination record.
Tegegn however hopes that the exercise will not disrupt or be disrupted by the ongoing Covid-19 mass vaccination campaign.
Uganda
has received 10,997,500 doses of the Novel Oral Polio Vaccine targeting
type 2 poliovirus. While receiving the vaccines on Tuesday, the Primary Health Care
Minister, Margaret Muhanga noted that the government intends to roll out the
mass polio vaccination because of outbreaks in neighbouring Kenya, the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan.
"With Uganda’s
porous borders pockets of unimmunized children and weak surveillance are
glaring risk factors for the continued spread of polio,” Muhanga said. She says
that the ministry will roll out the mass vaccination exercise in December. The
campaign targets 8,791,710 children under five years, which is 20.5% of
Uganda’s total population.
She says
that the Ministry will send teams door to door in search of every eligible
child in all districts. Muhanga says that the strategy is the gold standard that
has been tested globally and used by all countries.
//Cue in: "Uganda has received....
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The Health Ministry lauds the Global Polio
Eradication Initiative, World Health Organization-WHO, UNICEF and partners for
providing the polio vaccines.
Dr. Yonas Tegegn Woldemariam, the WHO
Representative in Uganda is convinced that Uganda will meet the target of ten
million children within three days based on its past polio vaccination record.
//Cue in: "Uganda has taken...
The Cue out:...public health endeavours,"//
The WHO figures show that 31 countries including
Uganda have has recorded 10 cases of circulating vaccine-derived
poliovirus this year compared to 1,069 cases recorded in 2020. As a result,
Uganda is among the countries WHO has verified to rollout the novel polio
vaccine to respond to the outbreak.
In Uganda, four doses of polio vaccines are
administered to children at birth, six, ten and fourteen weeks. The World
Health Organization's Expanded Programme on Immunization recommends the
consumption of more than four doses in polio-endemic countries with poor
hygiene practices for lifetime protection.
